Epigraphs

Encoding Instructions (new P5 version)

The WWP allows two ways of encoding epigraphs: either by using the TEI element epigraph or by using <div type="epigraph">. We use epigraph by preference, except where the epigraph is separated from the rest of the text in a way which makes it necessary to use div instead: for instance, where the epigraph is on a separate page preceding the main body of the text, so that it clearly should be encoded as the first div element within body.

The WWP considers an epigraph as a quotation or passage of text which is intended to illuminate, comment on, or otherwise adorn the text with which it is associated. It may be verse, drama, or prose, and it may or may not be accompanied by a citation indicating its origins. It may appear either at the beginning or ending of a section of the document, or on a title page. The WWP differs from the TEI in allowing epigraphs to appear at the end as well as at the beginning of a section of text, because we have encountered cases of this sort in our collection.

If the text inside an epigraph is a quotation, it should be encoded with quote (with internal tagging as appropriate. Any bibliographical citation should be encoded with bibl, within epigraph

If the text inside the epigraph is known for certain not to be a quotation from another source, — that is, it originates with this epigraph— then it should be encoded with p alone within the appropriate structure. An epigraph should be considered part of the section which it prefaces, and the epigraph or div type="epigraph" element should thus fall within the larger element (div, front, body, etc.) with which it is associated.

If an epigraph is associated with a poem, it should appear within the outermost div type="poem.xxx", not nested inside the first interior lg element, since the epigraph is not part of the verse structure of the poem itself, but is part of the conceptual unit of the poem.

If an epigraph falls on a title page, it will be encoded as epigraph within titleBlock. If an epigraph occurs on a page by itself immediately before the main text of the book, or at the top of the first page of text, it should be encoded as a div type="epigraph" directly within body. If it is separated from the main text by some section of the front matter, it should be encoded within front. If it falls at the beginning of some div within body, it should be encoded as epigraph within that div.

To determine whether an epigraph applies to the entire text or simply to the first div (and hence whether it should be encoded as a separate div within body or as a div embedded within the first main textual division) the encoder should use clues such as whether other sections of the body also have epigraphs, and whether the epigraph falls on a page by itself or at the top of the first page of text.

    <epigraph>
      <quote>
        <p>Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich...</p>
      </quote>
      <lb/>
      <bibl>
        <author>
          <persName key="JAusten.foo">Jane Austen</persName>
        </author>
        <lb/>
        <title><persName>Emma</persName></title>
      </bibl>
    </epigraph>